Top 3 Habits to Combat the Health Woes of Office Life
Making These Simple Changes in Your Daily Office Routine Can Make a Difference
We’ve all heard that the 9-5 office routine does a number on our health.
Sitting has been called, “the new smoking” by NBC News – but unlike the act of smoking, many of us office-folk don’t really have a choice in the matter.
Even If You Work Out You’re Screwed… Turns out even the brave, healthy souls that incorporate morning or evening workouts into their workday are still at risk. Research shows that sitting for hours a day cuts your life expectancy, even if you’re just sitting an average of 3 hours at a time per day.
This post includes 3 essential habits to combating the “death by office” phenomenon.
Your Job is a Vampire… Why Office Sitting Sucks
Our jobs require that we spend multiple hours of the day sitting at a desk or bound to a meeting or conference room. Either that or we’re on our butts in the car and throughout breakfast, lunch and dinner. By the time we get home we’re not physically exhausted, per say – but mentally, absolutely. Flip on the T.V. or a movie to unwind (deservedly), and then it’s off to bed to wake up and do it over again. We spend our lives sitting, so are we doomed?
Some Good News for the Office Bound
No. You can do something about it every day – and the key really is to actually do it every day. Be mindful these 3 habits and you can combat the effects of office life at a sedentary workplace:
1. Follow The Three G’s
Get Up Often. Experts recommend once an hour. Habit # 3 really helps with this one…
Go Outside. Fresh air does the body and brain a lot of good. It’s proven. Add a dose of sunshine, and you’re really doing yourself a favor. Try to take a short stroll outside your office at least twice a day.
Green Your Office. Live plants at the office are a proven way to improve the air quality and oxygen flow in your workspace. They also have numerous other benefits, too, like sickness prevention (a.k.a. the threat of more time sitting on your butt) – plus you get an excuse to get up and water them every once in a while. That’s two G’s in one!
2. Do a Workplace Workout (without looking crazy)
A mini office workout can often be done discretely. Bonus: A little physical activity will heighten your concentration and make you more productive. Hopefully it will also stop “office death” and reverse the years sitting takes off of your life.
There are many Office Workouts you can do easily and discretely, work them into your daily office routine ASAP.
3. Drink Tons of Water
Yes, the old “drink more water” tip. But this list would be incomplete without it. Whether you’re a coffee, tea, or Mountain Dew addict at the office, you’re drinking a known diuretic that will deplete your stores of hydration and cancel out the water you’re consuming. For every caffeinated drink, add an extra 8oz. glass of water.
Here’s a general idea of how much water you should drink a day: Cut your body weight in half and measure out that many ounces of water each day. For the math challenged – just commit to drinking one full glass of water every hour (told you this habit would aid you with #1!).
If you have trouble drinking your share of water, try adding in healthy office snacks throughout the day that will give you a little extra hydration (like fruit) – or at least nosh on something that will encourage a little thirst for quenching.
Thanks for visiting The Water Cooler blog, where Work Webb passes on office life tips and workplace know-how to the rest of working world!
Death chamber? Not if you can help it! Make the office a healthier place to be with the tips above.
About Work Webb: Work Webb is a shared office solution that provides a number of options to those looking to rent an office in Daytona Beach or the surrounding areas of Ormond Beach and Port Orange. We have virtual offices, mailing addresses, conference and meeting rooms for rent, and private, semi-private, or shared offices for the rent by the day, week, month – for long term, full days or short term and part-time.
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